Agriculture

Most of us have learned to fear bamboo. I used to think that the only good place for them was in planting beds that were smack-dab-in-the-middle of parking lots…no chance of a runner reaching your garden in that case.

It’s the horror stories that stick with us. We usually only hear about the invasive claims about bamboo and how it escaped a neighbor’s yard only to take over your prized perennial bed.

Well, anything left unchecked can become a problem, and there are ways to contain invasive bamboos; and some that don’t even need it.

Sarah Eades, a senior member of the Collins High School FFA, won the state championship for extemporaneous speaking at the convention held at Rupp Arena in Lexington and will advance to the national competition in October in Indianapolis.

Knock on wood, please, because I may jinx myself by declaring publicly that my tomatoes look awesome. It is the healthiest set of plants and fruit that I can ever remember, honestly.

The plants are remarkably free of any pest problem, brown or yellowing leaf or rotting fruit. Most are heirloom varieties; they were fertilized once at planting with fish emulsion and immediately mulched with newspaper and pine straw.

I read somewhere that summer solstice marks the point that it is safe to harvest your garlic. By June 20 the garlic has “cloved-up” in this part of the country, but of course what happens before that date may give us a little wiggle room. This year I harvested on June 19, the earliest in memory, and the garlic looks good.

Spencer Hammond of Shelby County is one of 84 high school juniors from 54 counties who are attended Kentucky Farm Bureau’s 27th annual Institute for Future Agricultural Leaders (IFAL), held in two locations this month.

Wheat production may not be a farmer’s bread-and-butter crop in Shelby County, but thanks to an almost non-existent winter and a mild spring, most farmers in the county not only have enjoyed a slightly larger yield but also already have harvested their crops.

“I just finished harvesting; now I’m getting ready to plant soybeans,” said Paul Hornback, who said he got 80 bushels of wheat per acre from the 100 acres he had planted on his farm near Bagdad.

I think about food so much this time of the year because vegetables abound. I just came home from working at Courtney Farms in Bagdad with a load of vegetables that will be presented to Community Supported Agriculture subscribers for a weekend gathering of shared experiences and shared food. We are combining our farming efforts to bring food to local families, and that includes the pretty things that can be added and eaten in the mix.

Callie Anderson, a senior at Collins High School, Hannah George, Rachel White and Gwen Martin, all seniors at Shelby County High School, and Tyler Bitzer, a student at the University of Kentucky, each have won 2012 college scholarships from Kentucky Farm Bureau.